Yes, but I really enjoyed that type of funning in a very short story about a starship torn apart by tidal forces around a neutron star and he goes on to describe how one of the few barely identifiable pieces must have been a wrench from the engineer's toolbox - indeed it was a star-mangled spanner.

That story was written by Arthur C Clarke, not Asimov. And, I believe the basic idea was taken from the short story 'Neutron Star' by Larry Niven. I doubt he would have hesitated to give Niven credit, as the only apparent reason for the story was just to set up that line. I think SF writers love puns more than writers in any other genre...